Pacifi c NorthwestResearch Station

Forest Service

United StatesDepartment ofAgriculture

For more information about research at Mount St. Helens, please visit: http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/mtsthelens/

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1. Mount. St. Helens

2. The crater

3. The lava domes

4. Pumice Plain

5. Spirit Lake

6. Raft of logs blown into the lake by the eruption

7. Common raven (Corvus corax)

8. Mountain bluebird (Sialia currucoides)

9. Pacifi c silver fi r (Abies amabilis)

10. Northern fl icker (Colaptes auratus)

11. Dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis)

12. Chalcedon checkerspot (Euphydryas chalcedona colon)

13. Pumice rocks

14. Cascade golden-mantled ground squirrel (Spermophilus saturatus)

15. Roosevelt elk (Cervus elaphus roosevelti)

16. Sitka willow (Salix sitchensis)

17. Merten’s sedge (Carex mertensii)

18. Big huckleberry (Vaccinium membranaceum)

19. Cardwell’s penstemon (Penstemon cardwelli)

20. Avalanche lily (Erythronium montanum)

21. Western trillium (Trillium ovatum)

22. Small-winged sedge (Carex microptera)

23. Shattered tree stumps

24. Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium)

25. Scarlet paintbrush (Castilleja miniata)

26. Steam plume

27. Cirrus clouds

28. Tree that was snapped off by the blast

MOUNT ST. HELENS POSTER KEY

On the morning of May 18, 1980, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake shook beneath Mount St. Helens and trig-gered an enormous eruption. The entire northern side of the volcano collapsed, releasing pressure that sent a hot stone-fi lled wind surging across the landscape at speeds over 200 miles per hour and temperatures of 680 °F. The eruption buried some areas in debris ava-lanches and mudfl ows, scoured other areas with hot gases, blew down or scorched forests on slopes several miles away, and dusted forests farther away with volcanic ash. The area was left to recover naturally in the 110,000-acre Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument in the state of Washington, offi cially dedi-cated in 1982 to research, recreation, and education. Scientists were on the ash-covered ground within days of the eruption. Since then, the volcano has been a living laboratory for ecological and physical research, conducted by scientists from many uni-versities, federal laboratories, and federal and state agencies. The USDA Forest Service Pacifi c Northwest (PNW) Research Station has had a major role in this

9 miles north of the crater. After 18 years of inactivity, Mount St. Helens began erupting again in late 2004. Plumes of steam and ash rose from new vents and a large new dome grew within the crater. Mount St. Helens has a rich eruptive history, and geologists think that the volcano will likely be active off and on in years to come. The repeated episodes of eruption fol-lowed by ecological recovery make Mount St. Helens a fascinating place to learn about the forces of nature and resiliency of life. The PNW Research Station generates and communicates scientifi c knowledge to help people understand and make informed choices about people, natural resources, and the environment. The Station is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, with 10 laborato-ries located in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington. It has about 500 employees. Learn more about Mount St. Helens ecology on the Web at: http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/mtsthelens/

research. What station scientists have learned since 1980 has provided many insights to the science of dis-turbance ecology—the study of how life survives and recovers after events like volcanic eruptions, forest fi res, and fl oods. Not everything died in the area around Mount St. Helens. Station scientists and their collaborators found that thousands of small pockets of plants and animals survived in much of the disturbed area. These survi-vors and decaying pieces of the destroyed forest—called “biological legacies”—played vital roles during recovery. In the years since the eruption, wind carried insects, spiders, and seeds into the ash-covered ground and numerous other organisms walked, crawled, fl ew, hopped, or hitchhiked into the area. Plants began to grow and, slowly, much of the area turned green again. A surprisingly diverse array of plants, animals, and fungi have colonized the area. This poster is a stylized depiction of the area around Mount St. Helens 25 years after the 1980 eruption, as viewed from Norway Pass, approximately

Mount St. Helens

Artwork © John Charles Pitcher 2005

The Pacifi c Northwest Research Station (PNW) has worked with many partners in conducting a program of ecological research at Mount St. Helens for the past quarter-century. PNW appreciates the dedication and support of many important collaborators, including:

• Gifford Pinchot National Forest• Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument• USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory• USDA Agricultural Research Service• Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

• Utah State University• University of New Mexico• University of California, Riverside• University of Washington• Washington State University

• Portland State University• California State University at Chico• University of Victoria• Oak Ridge National Laboratory• Weyerhaeuser Company